https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9744-1130
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ABSTRACT
This article tells the extraordinary story of Fiorenzo Capriotti, the man behind the sinking of the Egyptian flagship the Emir Farouk in October 1948 and the birth of the Israeli navy commando unit. Using the same unconventional technique that the Italian navy special assault unit Decima Flottiglia MAS had pioneered against the British in World War II, the embryonic Israeli navy was able to defeat Egypt’s superior numbers and weaponry. Not only did Capriotti play a key role in the founding of the Israeli navy commando unit, but he also made a significant contribution in shaping the doctrine that the Israeli navy should overcome the unfavourable balance of power through the superiority of its naval commando units. The sinking of Emir Farouk in fact consolidated the notion that the Israeli navy should compensate for its small size relative to most of its enemies through greater agility and firepower.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. The Emir Farouk was an Egyptian Navy sloop launched as a passenger cargo ship in 1926, then converted to military service in 1936.
2. Morris, 1948, 327.
3. Capriotti, La mia Decima, 15–7.
4. The X MAS (the initials standing for Motoscafi Armati Siluranti, a cover name to disguise its true character) was divided into three units: a surface group operating explosive motorboats, an underwater group using slow-running human torpedoes (siluro a lenta corsa, SLC) and a Gamma assault frogman unit. O’Hara and Cernuschi, “Frogmen against a Fleet,” 119–37.
5. On 21 December 1981, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot published an article on Fiorenzo Capriotti, giving him the nickname “Wingate of the Navy.” Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate was a senior British Army officer known for his unconventional military thinking and counterinsurgency tactics. Assigned to Mandatory Palestine in 1936 as a young intelligence officer, Wingate became an ardent supporter of Zionism, setting up the Special Night Squads, a Jewish counter-insurgency unit formed of British and Hagana volunteers. Wingate trained them in methods of operations and strategies in fighting Arab insurgency and accompanied them on their patrols. Wingate and this special unit gained fame thanks to their operational successes, frequently ambushing Arab saboteurs who attacked oil pipelines of the Iraqi Petroleum Company.
6. Capriotti, Diario di un fascista, 72.
7. O’Hara and Cernuschi, “Frogmen Against a Fleet,” 93–4, 97.
8. Ibid., 19.
9. Capriotti died on 10 November 2009 at the age of 98.
10. The Italian navy was the first to practise special naval commando operations. The British Royal Navy Special Boat Service was formed in early 1941, while the US Navy Underwater Demolition Team was formed in late 1942. Borghese, Sea Devils, xi.
11. Capriotti, La mia Decima, 16–7.
12. The speedboats were approximately 1.1-ton caravel-built mahogany hydroplane boats measuring 5.62 m x 1.65 m x 0.4 m, powered by one HP Alfa Romeo 6C2500 engine, with two propellers in-line mounted to a one-piece unit which combined rudder and propellers, and which was fitted at the stern outside the hull like an outboard motor. Caruana, “Decima Flotilla Decimated,” 185.
13. Capriotti, La mia Decima, 17–24.
14. Quoted in Petacco, Le battaglie navali, 87–8.
15. The X MAS dispatched a total of 238 men in 38 different raids. Of these 238 men, 20 died in action and 53 were taken prisoners. Borghese, Sea Devils, xiii.
16. Cunningham, A Sailor’s Odyssey, 230.
17. Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean to Admiralty, 26 March 1941, ADM223/685.
18. Senior British Naval Officer Souda Bay to Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, 28 March 1941; Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre, “I/N 91 – Sergente Motorista, Captured 26 July 1941,” 26 October 1941, ADM223/685; Capriotti, La mia Decima, 30–5.
19. Capriotti, La mia Decima, 44–5.
20. The Gold Medal of Military Valour, to which he would have had full title, was ultimately denied to him for purely bureaucratic reasons.
21. Gooch, Mussolini’s War, 193.
22. Although the first bombs were dropped on Malta within hours of declaring war on Britain, the resistance they faced was minimal. Malta hardly had any air defences. British military planners had in fact concluded, well before the outbreak of the war, that the island was “virtually indefensible” and, after the surrender of France in June 1940, they even considered “abandoning Malta altogether.” Sadkovich, “Understanding Defeat,” 27–61; Budden, “Defending the Indefensible,” 447–67; Symonds, World War II, 78–102; and Hastings, Operation Pedestal, 4.
23. Petacco, Le battaglie navali, 80; Symonds, World War II, 85–8; and Gooch, Mussolini’s War, 193.
24. Caruana, “Decima Flotilla Decimated,” 178.
25. See, for instance, Caruana, “Decima Flotilla Decimated,” 178–86; Borghese, Sea Devils, 96–113; Capriotti, La mia Decima, 129–39; Zapotoczny, Decima Flottiglia MAS, 80–2; and Symonds, World War II, 85–8.
26. The slow-running human torpedo mannered by Major Teseo Tesei, whose task was to blow a path through the steel net at 4.30am, had moved in the direction of the viaduct, but the awaited explosion had not taken place. After waiting some minutes, a first motorboat mannered by Roberto Frassetto proceeded against the bridge, but remained entangled in the net and failed to explode. A second motorboat mannered by Aristide Carabelli was then directed at the bridge, hitting the central pylon, blowing up and setting off also Frassetto’s unexploded motorboat. However, the objective of blowing a hole in the protective steel net was not achieved because the force of the explosions brought down the viaduct’s span next to the breakwater, which fell between the pylon, blocking the access to the harbour and creating a further defensive line. The explosions alerted the defences: within seconds, the searchlights illuminated the sea approaches to the Grand Harbour and picked out the speeding motorboats. Archivio Storico del Ministero della Marina, “Ordine di operazione 5/A,” 23 luglio 1941; Caruana, “Decima Flotilla Decimated,” 180–82; Sadkovich, The Italian Navy, 167–8; and Capriotti, La mia Decima, 51–4.
27. Admiralty Press Bureau, “Quotation from Voce d’Italia as Obtained from Reuters,” 27 July 1941, ADM223/460; Caruana, “Decima Flotilla Decimated,” 180; Capriotti, La mia Decima, 51; and Zapotoczny, Decima Flottiglia MAS, 81.
28. Borghese, Sea Devils, 103.
29. Ibid., 111. See, also, Commander Fixed Defences Malta to Admiralty, “Attack on Valletta Harbours by Italian Craft on the Morning of 26 July 1941,” (the document is not dated), CAB106/354; Chief of Intelligence Staff Mediterranean, “Attack on Malta,” 13 August 1941, ADM223/460; Caruana, “Decima Flotilla Decimated,” 179–82; and Capriotti, La mia Decima, 130–4.
30. Sadkovich, The Italian Navy, 168.
31. Commander Fixed Defences Malta to Admiralty, “Attack on Valletta Harbours by Italian Craft on the Morning of 26 July 1941,” (the document is not dated), CAB106/354; Caruana, “Decima Flotilla Decimated,” 183–4; and Capriotti, La mia Decima, 62–4.
32. Caruana, “Decima Flotilla Decimated,” 184; and Capriotti, La mia Decima, 70–1.
33. Even during his imprisonment in the United Kingdom, Capriotti became the protagonist of a very daring plan: escaping from the prison camp by digging a long tunnel and seizing a plane from the nearby military airport. Ultimately, the plan failed due to a sudden storm. When the possibility of taking possession of a plane faded, Capriotti and his two companions wandered in the woods for four days before being captured. Capriotti, La mia Decima, 91–8.
34. Capriotti, Diario di un fascista, 17–8; and Salerno, Mossad base Italia, 117–24.
35. At the time, the Israeli navy consisted of just four former Aliyah Bet vessels converted into warships, while the Egyptian navy had three large and eight small minesweepers, four armed service ships, three corvettes, four patrol boats and 20 landing craft. Morris, 1948, 328–9.
36. Tremolada, All’ombra degli arabi, 21.
37. Quoted in Scipione Rossi, “Un fascista ingaggiato dal Mossad.”
38. See note 36 above.
39. Buttazzoni, Solo per la bandiera, 125.
40. Capriotti, Diario di un fascista, 18–9.
41. Ibid., 18–9.
42. Sereni, I clandestini del mare, 306–29; Yona, Missions, 97–124; and Salerno, Mossad base Italia, 51–62.
43. Capriotti, Diario di un fascista, 22–3.
44. Ibid., 21–2.
45. Morris, 1948, 328–9.
46. Capriotti, Diario di un fascista, 25.
47. Tal, Naval operations, 164–69; and Morris, 1948, 328–9.
48. For his exploits, Ben-Nun received the Hero of Israel citation.
49. See note 46 above.
50. It was there that he learned that the action off the Gaza coast had created political problems with the British. They had in fact recovered pieces of the explosive motorboats and had accused the Italian navy of complicity in the incident.
51. Capriotti, Diario di un fascista, 28–9.
52. Ibid., 93–4 and 97.
53. Ibid., 129–30.
54. These young men and women were known as MACHAL (Mitnadvei Chutz-La’Arets), the Hebrew acronym for overseas volunteers.
55. Lorch, The Edge of the Sword, 271–7; Inbar, “The Israeli Navy,” 103–4; and Morris, 1948, 328–9.
56. Tzalel, From Ice-Breaker to Missile Boat, 9.
57. Capriotti, Diario di un fascista, 26.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Massimiliano Fiore
Massimiliano Fiore is an Assistant Professor of Homeland Security at Rabdan Academy, Abu Dhabi.